Trump and Religion

Donald Trump has basically been caught in a lie about his personal convictions. We start with him making a big thing in an interview about how religious he is, about how much he loves the Bible, about how he really likes both Testaments equally, and how he reads it all the time. I’d say, then the wheels come off, but they were never even actually on.

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Bill Donohue’s Usual Hyperbole

Bill Donohue, for those of you who don’t know, is the head, and as best anyone can tell, only employee or member of an organization called, “The Catholic League.” Bill is claiming that American gay rights activists are seeking to “criminalize the Bible,” based on a situation where a Swiss group has filed a complaint (in Switzerland) against a Catholic Bishop in Switzerland (those facists Swedes).

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Rep. Steve King, Talking Lawnmowers and The Baker Act

It worries and embarrasses me the idiocy I see in too many of our elected officials, and making it worse is the knowledge we elect them, and keep re-electing them. Evangelicals and Conservatives, especially Republican conservatives seem to try to out-stupid each other, and the rhetoric has simply crossed a line, especially on the gay marriage issue. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa[they should be really proud]) provides a ton of grist for the stupid mill, and I think his latest, were he anyone else, would qualify him for a Baker Act petition.

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Republicans Resort Again to Swiftboating

“Swift-boating” is a neologism used pejoratively to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. We started using it during the 2004 presidential campaign when an astro-turf group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, set out to wreck John Kerry’s campaign based on their false claim that he hadn’t earned a purple heart he had received. Now, Donald Trump has taken on the mantel of swift-boater in attacking John McCain’s status as a Vietnam War Hero. It’s a sad state that the preferred attack in this country, when you’ve not bothered to serve yourself, is to attack people who have sacrificed and served. But it has a long history. More sad is that fact that it seems to work, and voters buy into it, all while claiming to “support the troops.”

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The Literal Inerrant Bible

As the teacher of an Adult Sunday School for a few years now, I’ve had to do a lot of study, and while I’m not biblical scholar, there is one things I am absolutely certain about…the Bible is not literal nor is it inerrant. There, I said it. It doesn’t mean I don’t respect the Bible as Holy Canon, but it could not be applied to our lives today were it to be taken literally. A video by Mike Huckabee makes that point.

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Letter to Bishop Kiesey of the Michigan Area

Recently, a small church in Michigan, Cassopolis United Methodist, had their church Pastor, Rev. Benjamin Hutchison, taken away from them. Was it because of poor attendance, hardly, he had quadrupled the membership since being appointed. He saved the church from dying according to many members. His crime, he was in a long-term committed relationship with another man. Just after that, nearly 30 United Methodist pastors joined in a celebrating a wedding ceremony for Rev. Hutchison and his husband, and now, to further hammer home her distaste for love, Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey has picked out nine of them for prosecution under church law. Here’s my letter to Bishop Kiesey:

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A Brief Comment on Rachel Dolezal’s Story

Talk about one’s 15 minutes of fame. This Rachel Dolezal has created quite the discussion, and perhaps it is a worthwhile discussion. I heard one African-American woman say that Dolezal wasn’t qualified to be a leader in the black community, because she hasn’t “lived the life.” Well, most certainly she didn’t live the life of an African-American in her early years, but it seems she’s identified as African-American for some time, and did so well enough to fool pretty much everyone. So, perhaps she does have some experience in that life.

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An Open Letter to Franklin Graham

It’s time we had a little talk, you and me. I know this whole idea that gay people (and all the LBT rest of them) might be starting to get some equal rights bothers you tremendously. I can’t figure out any sort of leap of logic that makes this such a big issue for you, unless, of course it somehow affects you directly. At some point, you’ve got to meet God halfway. You can’t create him in your image, nor imbibe him with your character flaws. If God hates all the same people you do, you have created a god in your own image, and are not worshiping the God of Abraham.

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Movie Review – Fox Catcher

Based on true events, Foxcatcher tells the dark and fascinating story of the unlikely and ultimately tragic relationship between an eccentric multi-millionaire and two champion wrestlers. When Olympic Gold Medal winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is invited by wealthy heir John du Pont (Steve Carell) to move on to the du Pont estate and help form a team to train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics at his new state-of-the-art training facility. This is one to watch if you haven’t already.

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